Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest and most populous country in Latin America, and the fifth largest in the world in both area and population. It borders Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana and the département of French Guiana to the north, Uruguay to the south, Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest, Bolivia and Peru to the west, and Colombia to the northwest. The only South American countries not bordered by Brazil are Ecuador and Chile. Tropical climate is predominant. In the south of the country, subtropical climate prevails. Brazil is traversed by the Equator and Tropic of Capricorn lines. It is home to varied fauna and flora and extensive natural resources. Brazil was colonized by Portugal in 1500 and has been a sovereign nation since 1822. The republican system has been adopted since 1889. Its current Constitution defines Brazil as a Federal Republic. The Federation is formed by the indissoluble association of the States, the Federal District, and the Municipalities. There are currently 26 States and 5,564 Municipalities. The Brazilian population tends to concentrate along the coastline in large urban centers. While Brazil has one of the largest populations in the world, population density is low and the inner continental land has large demographical empty spaces. It is a multiracial country composed of European, Amerindian, African and Asian elements, more often found in the same individual than separated into different communities. Places, projects and networks * São Paulo * Rio de Janeiro * Curitiba * Porto Alegre * Niterói 2009 SEED Award Winners *"One Million Cistern Program (P1MC)". Local NGOs and local community associations have joined forces with the national government and international agencies to develop and build one million home cisterns to collect and store rain water in the semi-arid region, bringing access to potable water for poor rural families. *"The sustainable use of Amazonian seeds". Regional development in the Brazilian Amazon is the aim of the partners, achieved by encouraging the organization of the local communities as a co-operative, and by transferring technologies and training the community in the production of oils made from Amazonian seeds, resulting in increased incomes for these communities. *"Eco-Amazon Piabas of Rio Negro". A national NGO, a cooperative of small producers and public authorities are working together to build a niche market of specialty ornamental fishes and to introduce a fair trade system through socio-environmentally responsible fishing. United Nations Environment Programme, May 12, 2009 Desertification In Brazil, desertification has increased in the Caatinga, in the zones of droughts in the Northeast and North of the state of Minas Gerais, as well as in the states that didn’t suffer of droughts nor desertification before like in Rio Grande do Sul. The Amazon River has been through a major drought just a little time ago, with a large amount of fish dying because of this. Global Voices Online, November 4th, 2009 Flood *Blogger Cristiana Soares, in collaboration with net-citizens, launched Projeto Enchentes Floods, pt, a platform for tracking — and gathering information about – floods in Brazil. The project counts with a collaborative map created by Henrique Brandão. January 4 globalvoicesonline.org January 4, 2010 *Sustainable Community Action:Content in Portuguese References Category:Brazil